


Italian boy loves Italian girl

by Aitheria_Iah



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M, Marriage, Mature Tony, Obsession, s7 ep 21
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-11
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:27:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25209202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aitheria_Iah/pseuds/Aitheria_Iah
Summary: He's flirtatous, she knew that. It was never serious, he made sure they all knew that. But one woman didn't realize it and puts him in a rough spot with the wife. Though now isn't the time to clear the air with his wife, a murder case as fallen into their lap. Again. What will happen if Tony doesn't take care of his personal and professional business?
Relationships: Tony DiNozzo/OFC, Tony/OFC
Kudos: 28





	Italian boy loves Italian girl

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time writing a fanfiction with a case involved. I hope I was able to mix the two well, if there is anything that could be improved please let me know. However if you are just looking to bash someone go find something else to take your frustration out on. Constructive criticism is welcomed, hateful flamethrowing is not. Thank you for your understanding. God bless you all with an amazing day.

“oh no, this is not good,” Tony murmured as he stared at the computer screen. He stared in horror at the Facebook page in front of him. He might be flirtatious, but he wasn’t a cheater. The flirting was harmless fun for him and for those that he flirted with. He hadn’t ever even heard about this “Brenda Bittner”. Though the pictures she has posted do remind him of the barista at Gibb’s favorite coffee shop/café. He barely spoke to her for five minutes. McGee and Ziva looked over at Tony as he looked between the computer screen and his phone.

McGee couldn’t help but tease Tony, “and just what, Tony, is wrong this time?” he had seen the so called serious relationship status between Tony and Brenda.

“This Bittner woman is saying that we’re in a committed relationship. That, McGoo, is what I’d say is wrong.” Tony barely looked at his neighboring agent.

Ziva chuckled, “well this will teach you not to flirt with anything walking and breathing.”

Tony only stared despondently, “Its only a bit of fun. Nothing serious everyone knows that. But I’m in serious trouble now.”

McGee and Ziva were confused. They understood that Tony had a phobia against serious committed relationship. Looking at each other in wonderment, McGee looked down at his desk first, Ziva sighed at the cowardness of her fellow junior partner, “and, pray tell, why are you in trouble?”

Tony didn’t answer as a screeching sound came from his phone. Tony’s tanned complexion paled as the number or name displayed across the screen. Taking a deep breath McGee and Ziva watched as Tony answered and placed the phone next to his ear only to jerk it away as a woman screamed angrily.

“Antonio Dante DiNozzo Junior! So help me, I’ll kill you if its true! Don’t think I won’t.” the screeching was not fully American. Ziva could hear a hint of some accent but she wasn’t able to place it exactly.

Once the yelling came to a halt – probably for a breath – Tony placed the phone back to his ear, “Catalina, darling, please calm down and let me explain please.”

McGee and Ziva had never heard Tony plead with anyone. There was also the fact that they had never heard of this “Catalina” person before, but whoever she was apparently she was close to Tony.

“Grab your gear!” Gibbs demanded walking towards his desk to grab his own bag. He stopped short for a minute when he saw DiNozzo cringing away from his phone. “DiNozzo!” the boss raised an eyebrow in question.

“Catalina, boss.”

Gibbs nodded his head in understanding and made a grabbing motion for the phone. DiNozzo reluctantly handed it over.

“Catalina, I know DiNozzo’s probably deserves the ass-chewing, but we have a case. Can you continue this later?”

His voice was almost pleasant in its gruffness as Gibbs spoke to this mystery woman.

“Of course, I will. I’m sure it’s a mistake. He’s never been this stupid before.”

“I’ll make sure to pass along the message,” Gibbs said as he ended the call and handed the phone back to DiNozzo. “She says if there is any truth to that post she’s going to gut you and string you up by your intestine.”

DiNozzo shook his head violently, “Boss it isn’t true. I swear, I wouldn’t do that to her.”

“Well you better explain what did happen and quickly now come on. We have a dead lieutenant at Monroe University hospital.”

They all jumped up, McGee asking if the lieutenant had been sick long while grabbing his gun and badge from his desk drawer. Gibbs just walked away with a “never admitted” thrown over his shoulder. The three of them had a quick confused look before rushing off to the elevator to follow their boss. On the ride over McGee and Ziva could tell that Tony wasn’t fully there but didn’t know how to pull him from his thoughts. With an activate case, time seems to flow differently. Before the two junior agents had figured out a way to talk to the senior field agent, the crime scene was there in front of them.

Ziva and Tony were taking photographs and notes, respectively, of the scene while McGee and Gibbs identified the body and history as lieutenant Jeffrey W. Hutton. Ziva decided to try and tease Tony into giving her answers, “So, Tony.” She paused to make sure she had his attention. “Since its obvious you used Miss Bittner, just what are you looking for in Mrs. Right?”

She took a quick photograph of him before turning back to the scene. Tony scowled, “First I didn’t use Brenda Bittner. I barely know her, second of all Mrs. Right will be intelligent, independent, and successful.”

Ziva frowned in confusion, she turns to him, “okay one question. What would this woman possibly see in you?”

Tony only stared at his foreign co-worker before turning around and walking away. If only they knew, but that had been his decision not to tell others. They might think he told them everything but life had taught him to keep the important things close and let the insignificant things be out in the open.

“His sister’s name is Dana Hutton,” Tony turns to McGee and Gibbs as they talked. Dana Hutton, that was name that Tony hadn’t heard in a while.

“Boss, Dana Hutton is a ZNN reporter.”

McGee comes up to them telling them that Dana’s producer claims that Dana was working from home that day. Gibbs turned to Tony, “Take Ziva and interview her.”

Tony nodded his head, “Sure boss.”

Ziva wasn’t completely sure what it was but Tony seemed tense during the entire drive to Dana Hutton’s house. Though when they got to the house, Tony started telling Ziva about the stories that Tony had seen Dana do.

“Is she cute?”

Tony shrugged his shoulders, “Sure she’s attractive.”

Ziva looked confused yet Tony didn’t expand on his answer which was unusual, the Tony she knew he would be expanding on how amazing Dana Hutton’s physical aspects were or how her eyes would sparkle or something like that. As Ziva knocked on the door, she glanced over at the ringing from Tony’s pocket.

“Its this Bittner woman. Honestly, how did she get my number?” Tony says as he hit the end button on his phone.

“Tony you can not avoid her forever,” Ziva said in frustration. She knocked on the door for a second time, Tony was glancing all over the front of the house. He wandered over to the window trying to see if he could look in. Ziva backed away from the door and sighed, “looks like no one is home.”

Tony never looked away from the window, “Probably for a reason.” Tony glanced over and motioned for Ziva to come see through the window. The living room was ransacked, a complete mess. The two of them slowly move make to the front door as they drew their weapons. Picking the lock, they searched the main foyer before heading to the second floor. As they cleared the house they continued to call out for Dana.

Tony moved back towards the living room and approached the piano. His fingers ghosted over the keys as Ziva came back downstairs. “Well she isn’t here.”

Tony looked back at Ziva and down to a photo of Dana on the piano, “Well, where is she?”

They went back outside to gather their equipment from the trunk of the car and began to document the crime scene for future references in the case. Once they had documented and noted everything, they called metro and waited for them to arrive before leaving and headed back to the Navy Yard. Walking into the bullpen, Gibbs called out for a sit-rep. Tony set his bag down next to the desk, “well, boss, her place was destroyed and she appears to be missing, willing or otherwise is unknown.”

“Took photos and catalogued the scene before calling metro. They said they’d coordinate their investigation with NCIS. I also have a BOLO out for Dana Hutton.”

Walking in front of the plasma, Tony noted that it shouldn’t be hard to find Dana. She was pretty well known.

Looking between Tony and Gibbs, Ziva wondered aloud, “Is her disappearance related to her brother’s death?”

Gibbs sipped his coffee, “We never assume anything. Tony, what we got on the Hutton family?”

Tony pulled up his gathered information on the plasma covering the photo of Dana. He clicked the remote pulling up multiple documents. “Jeffrey and Dana Hutton were military brats. Father was a marine combat helicopter pilot who died at the age of 42 in a training exercise. Following the father’s death, brother and sister were raised by their mother who died five years ago from pancreatic cancer.”

Ziva stood up from her desk, “they were both overachievers. Jeffrey played water polo and Lacrosse at the academy, did a tour at the Pacific, spent a year at the Pentagon before transferring to Navy Information Operations Command.”

“NIOC, secret stuff, “Tony whistled impressed. “Wonder what he was working on.”

“I’ll know in three minutes. Hutton’s CO should be on in MTAC.” Gibbs said as he looked down at his watch.

“Dana played piano, was a Phi Beta Zappa graduate of Georgetown before joining ZNN at the age of 22. Both siblings seemed to be on the up and up.” Tony noted. He didn’t bother to pay Ziva any attention as she stared at him quizzically.

McGee walked into the bullpen, “Boss, there was nothing at Lieutenant Hutton’s residence and I just dropped his laptop off with Abby. Hopefully she’ll find something on it.”

Gibbs nodded his head in understanding when his phone started ringing. He snapped it open to answer, “Gibbs.” A brief pause. “I’ll be there.”

He started to walk away and called for McGee to follow who rushed off after him.

While McGee and Gibbs were in MTAC, Tony and Ziva continued to try and discover a lead to either the Lieutenant’s death or Dana’s disappearance. They decide to head to the television station that Dana worked out to see if anyone had any information, hopefully her boss, Rex Carhartt, would have something that would add to their investigation.

They wandered the set asking questions, before Mr. Carhartt seemed to go on the defensive. “What’s all this about anyway? Why are you asking these types of questions?”

“Dana Hutton’s brother was killed and now we can’t find her.” Ziva mentioned after a quick glance at Tony from the corner of her eye.

Rex sighed and rubbed at his eyes, “her old mentor and now her brother.”

“what do you mean by that?” tony asked.

“her old mentor was killed in an accident two weeks ago. Broke her up pretty badly.”

“is it unusual for Dana to not come in like this?” Ziva questions.

Rex nods his head in affirmative, “Yeah. She’s been distracted lately, especially with being appointed the executor of her friend’s estate and was very involved in the sale of her friend’s business – it was an old bookstore.” Rex took a minute. “its on Duponte Circle.”

“You’re her boss,” Tony pointed out. “Shouldn’t she be checking in?”

“I’m her segment producer, not her boss,” Rex chuckled humorlessly. “She’s the star,” he splayed his hands and spoke sarcastically, “gets to choose her own assignments.”

Ziva looked up from her notepad, “what is she working on now?”

The producer sighed, “it was an old story. Something about private military companies and then she moved to a project about Soviet KGB.” He shrugged his shoulders, “I told her it was old news.”

“But you couldn’t talk her out of it,” Tony stated, “Right?” he moved around the set.

“She’s like a dog with a bone.” Rex said, “Once she was passionate about something, she lost her objectivity.”

“What do you know about Dana’s personal life?” Ziva asked.

Rex shook his head negatively, “Nothing. It was all work between the two of us.”

Something struck Tony’s gut as wrong,” so she didn’t have a boyfriend or someone hanging around the set when Dana was here?”

“I don’t know. I never noticed anyone.” Rex was annoyed by the male agent, he flashed the foreign one a flirtatious smile and got a sultry one in return. A small rectangular shaped card was thrust at him.

“well if you hear anything from Dana or she shows up, give us a call,” Ziva said.

Tony started to walk away, “we can show ourselves out.”




Back at the Navy Yard, tony tried to distract himself from the constant calls from Brenda Bittner and the pressing need to call Catalina back to explain everything. But this murder did take his attention even for a little while. He sighed and stood up from his desk.

“I’m going down to see Abby and check in.” He walked off towards the elevators before Ziva could respond in anyway.

Minutes seemed to tick by as the elevator pinged each flow he passed. He was so lost in thought that the sudden appearance of Palmer caused him to jerk slightly.

“be careful,” Palmer warned, “she’s in a bad mood, again.”

Tony didn’t respond as Abby called after him, “Palmer, I have guns in my ballistics lab, and I know how to use them.” Her voice was harsh.

Exchanging a look with Palmer, Tony walks forward and gives Abby a firm comforting hug. Palmer only looks confused. Tony backs away after a few minutes and looks her in the eyes. “Better?” Abby releases a heavy breath and nods her head.

“Okay. What do you have so far in regards to the fingerprints from Dana Hutton’s condo?” Tony asks, he keeps his voice soothing and calm trying to diffuse the tension building in Abby.

Abby continues to breath deeply, “They were delivered but I haven’t had a chance to process them yet. I’ll call you when and if I get something.”

Tony thanks her and walks towards the door. He hears Abby demand Palmer to leave and he rushes off after Tony. Once the elevator doors close again, Palmer starts talking to fill the silence.

“Congratulates, by the way.”

Tony looks over at him, “Thanks,” his voice shows his confusion, “for what exactly?”

Palmer smiles, “For hooking up with Brenda Bittner. Breena would love to double date, when you do think you’d have a free moment? What about Saturday night?”

“Palmer, listen carefully. I am not dating Brenda Bittner. She made a mistake or misunderstanding something. So thank s but no thanks.” Tony said forcefully. He really needed to get this whole fiasco under control. Once the elevator doors opened Tony made a mad dash to his desk.

“DiNozzo! You spoke with your friend at NIOC.” Gibbs demands an answer to his “not-a-question” question.

Tony shook his head, he had to stay on track and not let his personal issues affect his work, “No, we’re playing phone tag right now. Though there might be something else.”

Gibbs only stared at Tony.

“The bookstore that Carhartt told us about, it’s the same one that she used to hang out at as a kid. Maybe there is something there.”

Ziva looked at Tony in and demand to know how he figured that out.

Tony barely glanced over at her, “its called research. I looked into her friend, Charley Basum, that passed away. His name caused a video link to pop up where Dana Hutton interviewed him on her segment. I watched the segment and that’s where she talks about it. Someone should probably look into it.”

Gibbs looked at Tony, “Friend, killed accidently. Brother, healthy, dies of unknown causes. She disappears. I think we’re setting a record of coincidences.”

Tony chuckled, “Thought you had a rule about coincidences, Boss.”

“I do. Go.” Gibbs give the approval for Tony to go. He turns to Ziva, “Find what you can about the car accident.”




Being alone in the car finally allowed Tony to make an important call. The ringtone rand three times before she finally answered.

“Catalina, please don’t hang up.” Tony begged.

There was only silence for a little while, “I’m still angry, so talk.”

Tony sighed in relief. “okay. I’m still working a case but I was able to get a few minutes. Brenda Bittner is a barista at Gibbs favorite coffee shop. I’ve only spoken to her to order coffee and nothing else. You know that I was skyping with you last night when she claims we were together. I would never do that to you, especially not after everything we’ve fought through. As soon as this case is over I was going to make her take the photo down and explain that whatever she thinks we had or have is a lie she created. I love you, amore mio. I know that it’s confusing with everything going on, but I would never ever do that.”

He heard a sigh, “I know Antonio, I know. I lost my head, I apologize. It’s just when I saw that post something just sprung up from hell and I couldn’t stop myself.”

“I know, darling. Hey, why don’t we have a little personal time. Just the two of us. I’ll cook an amazing dinner, clean up real nice, you can put on that purple dress you look absolutely amazing in and just be us, Ant and Lina. I’ll make movie puns and cheesy jokes for you to laugh at and just relax.”

Tony could hear the smile in Catalina’s voice, “I would love that. My plane flies out tomorrow at 0500 so I should arrive at the Dulles airport station around 17:30 okay?”

“I’ll be there, angelo. I love you.”

“I love you too Tony. I’m sorry for doubting you.”

“Its okay. we’ve been separated for too long. I’ll take to you later alright?”

“Yes, I’m looking forward to it. Go catch the bad guy.”

“working on it.” Tony waited a few more minutes before hanging up the call. There seemed to be a release of pressure now that he’s talked to Catalina. He parallel parked his car before stepping out in front of the bookstore front. Waiting for the realtor to show up, Tony noticed the saxophone player and dropped a few bills into his case.

“Anthony DiNozzo?” a woman asked as she walked up to Tony.

“Yes. Maggie Reed?”

“That’s right.”

Ms. Reed disabled the alarm and turned to Tony as they walked into the building. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t really look like someone interest in buying a bookstore.”

Tony chuckled, “Maybe not me, but my wife loves the classics.”

Maggie Reed looks stunned. “A wife? You’re not wearing a ring.”

“It’s a hazard on my job,” He pulls his badge out, “I’m a federal agent.”

“oh, you’re here about Dana?”

Tony looks around the bookstore, “Yeah.”

“I saw it on the news this morning that she’s missing and her brother’s dead. Just what is going on? I haven’t been able to contact her since yesterday.” Maggie Reed seemed distraught by all this.

Tony turned to her, “Just how well do you know them?”

Maggie shrugged her shoulders. “Well I never actually knew Jeffrey but I’ve been coming to this bookstore and have seen Dana here a lot over the years. The owner, Charley Basum, was like a father to Dana. I know she took his death hard.”

Tony pointed to a picture of an elder gentleman with thinning hair but a bright smile and crows feet crinkled his eyes. “is this Charley Basum?”

Maggie nodded,

“I understand that Dana is handling his estate.”

“yeah, she approached me last week at his funeral and asked for my help with selling this place. Charlie wanted the proceeds to go to a charity promoting literacy in children.

Tony moved on passed the center of the building and towards to the back of the store. “Is this place worth much?”

Maggie laughed, “if you were looking to buy it, I’d say yes. But no, not really. Everyone is heading to electronic readers and brick-and-mortar buildings like this are dying and making hardbacks are becoming obsolete.”

Tony heads to the back office, “Is this safe always open, Ms. Reed?”

Maggie walked up behind Tony, “I don’t know, but I don’t think Charlie had much in value to lock up anyway.”

Tony turned to go, “Thank you for your time.”

They walked out and Maggie reset the alarm and locked the door. “No problem. Anything else I can help you with, you know how to reach me.”




There had been no leads and so they all went home for the night to recuperate and gather again with fresh eyes. Tony was resting after talking with Catalina and now he was falling asleep when his phone rang in the silence of the room. Tony sighed, there was only one person that would call him at 04:30 am in the morning.

“DiNozzo.”

Gibbs voice was aggravatingly normal. Not a bit of exhaustion was detectable. “I just found out that Dana Hutton broke up with her producer. He lied about their relationship; I want you to talk to him again in the morning.”

“Will do, Boss.” Tony barely got ‘boss’ out of his mouth before Gibbs hung up on him. Tony simply dropped his phone on his bedside table and went back to sleep.

Once morning came Tony prepared for the day and head to the television station once again. Tony hated when people lie to the police. Once he gets there Tony stormed up to Rex Carhartt and poked him in the chest. The poke was hard enough to force Carhartt to take a few steps back.

“What was that for,” Rex demanded to know.

Tony smirked drily, “Because lying to a federal agent has consequences.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You told us you didn’t know about Dana’s private life. You didn’t tell us that the two of you had an intimate relationship.”

Rex pushed his shoulders back, “I didn’t think it was relevant.”

Tony glared, “I’m the federal agent and I’ll determine what is and isn’t relevant to our investigation.”

“Look Dana was a pro; she knew how to work it and use it like the best of them.”

Tony was disgusted by these people; they just play and use each other.

“She uses you; you use her. That how this works? Well even if you don’t think so this past relationship is still relevant to our case. As there is the possibility as someone close to you might hate Dana for using you.” Tony stormed away without letting Rex saying anything in his defense. Instead of heading for the Navy Yard, Tony finds himself heading towards Dana Hutton’s house. Entering the house, Tony just stares there unsure of what he’s looking for. He pulls his phone from his pocket and calls the number he saw in Dana’s file. “hello Dana Hutton. This is Anthony DiNozzo, I am an NCIS agent. I don’t know if you’d remember me but when you were at Georgetown, I audited a class and we were in the same introduction to forensic psychology. The guest lecturer talked about following connections that seemingly had no place in an investigation. I know this is crazy, but I need you to trust me. You can call me at this number.”

Tony snapped his phone shut and just stood there not to sure where to go from there. Standing there, Tony heard a creaking sound hopefully he called out, “Dana?”

“I’m surprised you didn’t call me Laura. Cop falls for a missing woman, 1944, Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews.” Ziva comments as she leaned against the wall.”

Tony snorted, “You made a film reference. Go figure.”

“Tony this is a murder investigation, not a movie. Dana Hutton is missing and may be dead like her brother. She’s not just going to walk in through that door and into your life.” Ziva said.

“You and McGee think you’ve got this whole thing figured out, don’t you?” Tony was frustrated with his teammates. “She was in a class I audited at Georgetown several years ago. She already walked in and out of my life, David, now I’m just hopeful that we find her alive.”

With that Tony left Ziva standing dumbfound and alone.

Next time Tony and Ziva were in the same room was an hour later when the directed called the entire MCRT team to meet in MTAC to brief them on everything.

“There was this legend at the height of the cold war. The legend was about a man named Yuri, he was a mole in the Washington area and operated as what they called “The Banker”. Yuri funded KGB Ops in America. Some doubted his existence, but most believed he was real and they worked on a profile; Charles Basum fit that profile.”

Gibbs interjected, “the bookstore could have been a front.”

Vance threw Gibbs an annoyed glance before continuing, “It’s believed that over $10 million was kept in a slush fund and then when the Berlin Wall fell and the KGB was disbanded Yuri or Basum was forgotten about in all the chaos.”

Nobody could ever stop Tony from making a movie reference. He compared Charley Basum to some landlord in “No Way Out”.

McGee couldn’t help but wonder if Basum was Dana and Jeffery’s handler. When he got quizzical looks from everyone in the room, “Look if this was a novel, the characters could not be any better.”

“Not to mention Dana was on a first name basis with the president of the united states,” Ziva mentioned, “though if Basum was Yuri, then what happened to the money?”

“Leon, maybe that’s what this is all about.” Gibbs stated. He headed for the doors calling for his team to follow. “We’re going back to the bookstore.”

On the ride over Tony once again calls Maggie Reed to open up the storefront. He knew that not everything could be taken at face value, but the though of that blonde haired blue eyed girl with a gentle smile as a spy just couldn’t register in his mind. He hoped that they were wrong. Thinking about all this Tony laughed at himself. Rule 10 is almost always the hardest to follow. Pulling up to the store front far sooner than should be safe – what with Gibbs driving – they exit the car and begin pulling their gear out as well. Tony walked over to Maggie Reed to thank her again for coming so quickly.

“Its no problem.” She quickly unlocks the door and allows them inside, “Have you heard anything from Dana?”

“No ma’am, but we’ll let you know when we’re through,” Gibbs replies. “McGee check out the vents.” A phone ringing interrupts Gibbs giving orders. They all look over as Tony looks at his phone.

“I’ll take this outside. Excuse me.” Tony leaves the store leaving his team to complete whatever task is handed to them.

Outside Tony answers the call, “Anthony DiNozzo.”

“I don’t know who killed my brother.”

“Okay. I believe you. Maybe you could come in and we can talk about this.” Tony tries to keep his voice pleasant and understanding.”

“No! I can’t do that.”

“Okay, okay. Mayve we could meet up somewhere else. How about this? I’ll be waiting near the Potomac River tonight. I’ll have my backpack next to my feet. I’ll help you however I can.”

“We’ll see.” A dial tone followed that statement. At least now Tony knew that Dana was alive and has access to technology.

It felt like an aternity as Tony waited for a decent time to head out. eventually he found himself looking over the railing, staring down into the water below him. Soon there was a shifting of fabric next to him, silence fell between them for a few minutes.

“I wasn’t sure you were going to show.”

She looked around, clear paranoia in her entire body language, “You were pretty convincing. So, um, you can help me? Right?”

Tony stood up,” Yeah. Where have you been?”

Dana looked at Tony quickly before continuing to scan the area, “Hiding. I got a panicked phone call from Jeffrey. Said not to talk to anyone, he was going to the hospital but didn’t tell me why. I saw he died on the news…” her devastation was clearly heard.

“He was poisoned. Ricin. He was injected with a pellet filled with it. He probably didn’t even know it happened.” Tony says as though he was trying to reassure her. “It’s an old KGB technique from the cold war.”

Dana’s eyebrows scrunched up and her lower lip quivered. She leans heavily on the side railing, Tony lays a hand on her upper back, “You alright?”

Once she got her footing back Tony stepped back, “Doctors couldn’t help him any?”

“There is no antidote to Ricin poisoning.” Tony shakes his head negatively.

“What else is there?”

Tony only stares at her for a little while before answering, “We believe that Charles Basum was known as Yuri, a Russian spy.” He looks closely, “But you already know that, don’t you.” It wasn’t a question.

Tony rubs the back of his head in exhaustion as Dana explains that when Basum died she was going through his office and couldn’t find a key to the safe and called a locksmith. Inside was Russian documents, codes, etc., “I didn’t understand any of it and called Jeffrey. He was able to look into everything and I started looking into the KGB.”

Tony sighed, this whole case was a mess, though that was normal with NCIS cases. He really just wanted to go on that date with Catalina, “Why didn’t you just go to the FBI?”

Dana was filled with indignation, “Charlie was like a father to me. I couldn’t say he was Yuri until I was absolutely sure.”

“Do you know where the money is? Was it in the safe?”

“No, it wasn’t in the safe, but I do know where it is.”

Looking around, Tony picks up his backpack and begins leading Dana away to his car. “Come on, the sooner we arrest your brother’s killer, the sooner I can see my wife.”

Dana tells him they are going to the bookstore again. While driving Tony calls Gibbs to get him to meet them out front. McGee and Ziva were still there searching everything in the store. They headed into the store, “We’ve been looking in the wrong places for the money.”

Everyone looked confused. “Charlie converted the money into something he treasured and loved.” Dana said, looking at everything and everywhere in the store. Before quickly walking over to a bookcase while pulling on a pair of gloves. Opening the display case, she pulled out a leather-bound book gently. It was a first edition book of William Shakespeare’s work, published in 1623 according to a plague at the bottom of the display case.

“At auction, it would bring in $6 million dollars, today.” Dana said as it was gently set to the side before pulling out a second book.

“This one is a first edition Gutenberg bible from 1456, that he covered with a dictionary cover. The words are printed on Vellum. I looked it up, according to the internet, it was stolen by the Nazi’s in WWII and sold in the early ‘90s on the black market for $2.5 million.” She paused a few minutes. “Its worth ten times that now.” Dana turned to the display case behind her, “all of these books have a significant value, monetary wise.”

Tony whistled, “that’s a helluva story.”’

Dana shook her head, “Sadly, it doesn’t have a good ending. My brother’s dead.”

Gibbs stepped forward, “do you know who killed your brother?”

Dana smiles sardonically, “Probably the same person that killed me.” At their shocked and quizzical looks, Dana pulled her sleeve up showing a round, raised mark on her right forearm. “I had to find out what happened. I just can’t stop when I get a story.”

Tony just looked down at Catalina as she slept. The plane flight was long, and they had been separated for too long except he still couldn’t sleep. Just before picking Catalina up from the airport, he sat beside Dana Hutton as she drew her last breath and now here, he was enjoying life with his wife next to him. Something just didn’t sit right with him. He kissed Catalina’s forehead before getting ready to head out.

“Tell Gibbs hi for me,” Catalina mumbled in her sleep before turning over. Tony couldn’t stop himself from chuckling.

“Of course, dear,” Tony just couldn’t get out of his own head as he drove over to Gibb’s place. The door was unlocked like always. Tony wanted to shake his head. Walking down the stairs. Sitting down on the last few steps, Tony only watched Gibbs worked on his boat. “How’d it go?”

“Well, she went peacefully,” he picked up some trinket from the table beside the stairs. Gibbs only stares at him for a few minutes, “You okay?”

Tony shook his head, “not really. I just can’t imagine that innocent sweet nineteen-year-old girl from that class is the same woman that was just killed by a Russian operative.”

Gibbs only sighs before grabbing a mason jar full of nuts and bolts that he dumped to pour some bourbon. “I broke rule 10, boss, again.”

Gibbs hands the jar of bourbon over and sips from his own glass. “Yeah, always had trouble with that one myself. Though how’s Catalina?”

Tony sighed and looked at the drink in his hand.” She’s good, says hi by the way. It’s just hard to think that I held the hand of a lonely dying woman and then I went to pick my wife up from the airport to enjoy life. Guess I broke rule 11 as well. This one just doesn’t seem like it’ll stay behind me.”

“I’m sure you’ll find away to put it away or else Catalina is prepared to ruin you.”

This statement caused Tony to chuckle, “Yeah, she is. God, I love her, but there might be a problem with me. The though of making her mad just makes me want to do it. She is so beautiful when she’s angry.”

Gibbs took a sip of bourbon, “I knew you were a weird one.”

“What none of you redheads got your blood pumping when they got angry.”

Gibbs didn’t answer, only stared at Tony as he sipped the bourbon. This just made Tony laugh. Somehow just sitting there having a laugh at his boss’s expense allowed Tony to box up this case and set it to the back of his mind with the other gruesome cases he’s worked. He downed the rest of his bourbon before setting the mason jar to the side. He sighed and placed his hands on his knees, pushing himself up he stood there for a second. He threw a grin at Gibbs and started walking back upstairs. “Thanks boss, I’m good. See ya tomorrow at work.”

“Goodnight, DiNozzo.”

He smiled and after the drive home, Tony was ready to join Catalina in bed.




It was any other morning at work. Tony was in a good mood. He had a traditional Italian breakfast with Catalina and got to kiss her goodbye for once. He even had a homemade lunch for today. It was something small yet special for him to have an authentic homecooked meal and Catalina’s cooking was amazing, though he was biased. He was so focused on filling out the expenditure report for the last case when a voice broke through his thoughts.

“May I ask who you are?” Ziva’s voice always sounded like a demand even when she was asking a question.

Looking up, Anthony saw Catalina was standing there smiling at him. Apparently Ziva saw it as well, “I’d be careful of him. He takes nothing serious.”

Catalina laughed, “is that true, Tonio? You take nothing serious?” She wiggled her eyebrows like the minx she is.

“only when I have to, Catalina darling.”

This got both Ziva and McGee standing at attention. They remember that Gibbs knew this woman and she had some type of connection to Tony. They looked her over closely. Short, barely 5’5”, long rich black hair to the waist which tapered inward before hips flared out. complexion was tanned it looked natural as opposed to those horrible orange complexions looking at her eyes, they were a sparkling sea blue, almond shaped and set in an oval shaped face with a button nose. All in all, she was gorgeous and sadly just Tony’s type. Ziva and McGee watched as Catalina walked around Tony’s desk before plopping herself into his lap.

“You not going to introduce us, Tonio?” Catalina suggested.

Tony wrapped an arm around her waist, “Catalina, these are my co-workers – Tim McGee and Ziva David. McGee, Ziva this is my wife of nine years Catalina DiNozzo.”

At the gob smacked and shocked looks that crossed Ziva and McGee’s faces, caused Tony and Catalina to bust out laughing.

“Wife?” McGee questioned.

“You? Married?” Ziva started laughing as well, though hers was a bit more hysterical as opposed to the DiNozzos’ joyful laugh.

The disbelief in both the junior agents caused Tony and Catalina to stop laughing, “Yeah. Our ten-year anniversary is in a month. Why? You don’t think I could find my Mrs. Right?”

Tony’s voice was a little sarcastic as he questioned the two people, he considered friends but apparently they thought he’d never grow up. McGee starts stuttering as though he was a brand-new agent again. “But what about all those one night stand you bragged about? Monica that you bought a teddy for?”

Tony scowled at them both and hugged Catalina a little tighter. “each of those meetings were with Catalina. I just didn’t want to say anything, and Monica is my mother-in-law’s name. that teddy was for Catalina, but she wasn’t able to get back to the states in time, she was still on assignment.”

“Assignment? Back to the states? What do you do for work?” Ziva asked inquisitively.

“I’m a journalist photographer. I own five galleries. Have you ever heard of CDC?”

Ziva was confused, “the Center for Disease Control?”

“The photographer." the woman said.

"Yeah, my grandmother took me to their gallery in New York once.” Tim said, still not seeing the connection.

“That’s me. It’s my initials…well they were before I got married.” Catalina smiled, “Catalina Drusa Calistro.”

“So how did you two meet?” ZIva asked as she noticed McGee type something quickly on his phone. She wondered if he was informing the rest of their friends.

The two of them shared a glance before laughing again, “This one,” Catalina patted Tony’s cheek, “was drowning his sorrows in the hotel bar after his fiancée broke off their engagement and I was celebrating the new opening of my New York gallery. And one thing led to another. We had intended for it to be a one-night stand, but we woke up the next morning in a honeymoon suite and the wedding rings on our fingers. Took us a while but apparently we weren’t allowed to annul our marriage since we got down and dirty, you know consummated the marriage, and our licenses said something about being unable to divorce for one year. We sucked it up and started talking and trying to make the best out of a bad situation. Slowly we fell in love and no longer wanted to divorce each other.” Catalina smiled at Tony who smiled back. While Catalina was talking Abby, Jimmy, and Ducky all ran into the bullpen before stopping short in surprise at a woman sitting in DiNozzo’s lap.

“it’s real.” Abby murmured.

Ducky approached first, “hello dear. I don’t believe we’ve meet. My name is Donald Mallard, but everyone calls me Ducky.”

“hello Ducky. It’s nice to finally meet you. Tonio might not mention me but he’s told me everything about you guys.” Catalina smiled.

Abby squealed, “your accent is amazing. Just where are you from?” Catalina was radiant as she answered Abby.

“My mother is from Madrid, Spain. My father is from Tuscany, Italia. They decided to move to the middle so that they weren’t any closer to one family or the other once they got married so I was born in Reims, France. My accents probably not placeable since I was taught three languages at birth.”

“Damn, got yourself an exotic beauty, Tony.” Abby smiled, but Tony could tell that she wasn’t completely happy with him for not telling her about Catalina.

Even with her angry at him, Tony still smiled at Abby, “Smart and beautiful, I got drunk at the right place and time though why she puts up with me? We’ll probably never know.”

“That’s the truth.” McGee said snidely.

Tony tried not to let his probie’s comment hurt, but the slight flinch couldn’t be stopped. Catalina frowned worriedly at him before turning to glare at McGee.

“I put up with him, _Agent McGee_ ,” her voice was filled with sarcastic vindication, “because I love him.” She stared McGee hard in the eyes making him look away first. Tony wasn’t used to someone defending him but it just filled him with love for his wife. For a few minutes there was nothing but awkward silence, until Palmer started talking.

“Tony why did you not want to display this love before?”

Tony just shrugged his shoulders, “our start wasn’t exactly romantic, and we make a lot of enemies in this job. I’ll protect her however I can.”

Palmer saw the truth in that, “well I can understand that. Mrs. DiNozzo, I want you to know that your husband is a great man as well as to invite you to mine and Breena’s wedding. We would love to have you.”

Catalina smiled at the nervous man. “Thank you. I would love that. If no assignment takes me away, I will gladly be there,” she sighed and hopped up, “though I have a commissioned piece to take care of. I just wanted to drop by and pick on Tonio for a little bit. It was great meeting you guys. Hope we can talk more later.”

Tony saw his chance to delay the inevitable, “I’ll walk you our, Tesoro.”

The entire bullpen could only stare and watch as their jokester of an agent, Anthony DiNozzo, walked this gorgeous woman to the elevators and followed after her. He sent them all a smirk as the doors closed.

In the elevator, Tony shared a smile with Catalina. “How were your parents? Did the new expo go okay?”

Catalina leaned against Tony’s shoulder, “They were good, asked how you were and if you were being careful. The new showings went really well, I was expected more negative attention what with the them being what it was.”

Tony wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “WWII and the genocide that happened is an important piece of history and something we all need to learn from, sometimes those lesson have to be retaught over and over so that people don’t become complacent in this world. You’re doing a good thing.”

Catalina leaned up on her toes to kiss the underside of Tony’s chin. “I love you.”

Tony tilted her chin up and kissed her lips, “and I love you.”

They separated and smiled shared a loving smile. It was a few minutes before either of them said something else, just enjoying the company of a loved one.

“Well, now that they know you’re married maybe you can schedule off for the next trip.” Catalina always loved when they could travel to Europe. She may have been raised in France, but her parents always tried to spend time with each other’s family in Spain and Italy. “Mama and Papa were talking about hosting a get together in France so that both sides could get together again. It wouldn’t be for some time and nothing is definite, but it would be great if we could go and see everyone.”

Tony nodded; he knew it was hard for Catalina to have her family across the Atlantic and he regretted that he wasn’t able to get to know his in-laws better. “We’ll see what happens. I can’t schedule time off until we have a date but I would love to be able to go back with you as well. I loved everything about the France when we went.”

“Have you heard anything from your father?”

“not in a while. I knew that we’re never going to be close but I don’t know how I can ever take him serious when he just drops in and out of my life.”

“Well, there is nothing I can do to change him but I can be here to support you however I can.” They had left the elevators and walked into the parking garage. Walking to the black Honda pilot, Tony kissed Catalina, opening the door for her. “let me know if you’re going to be late okay?”

“I will. I love you, Tesoro.”

“I love you too mio amore. See you later.”

“see you later.” Tony closed the door after she was in and watched as she pulled away.

Well, Tony thought to himself, looks like I have to face the music. He headed towards the elevator and he tried to prepare himself for the twenty questions game that will probably bombard him when he got back upstairs. Though his happiness made it all worth it.


End file.
